Electronic devices such as lights, vibration sensors, moisture sensors, pressure sensors, and electronic controls are commonly incorporated into various mechanical devices. For example, it is known to employ a pressure monitoring system with a vehicle tire for use in informing the driver of the vehicle of the status of the tire. Such pressure monitoring systems are generally affixed to the rim onto which the tire is seated and are powered by a battery. The life of the battery may be three or four years in length and generally coincides with the expected life of the tire so that the battery can be changed in the pressure monitoring system at the same time the tire is replaced. However, in longer life applications, such as when used on a tractor trailer tire, the battery in the pressure monitoring system may die before the tire is replaced. This situation requires the user perform a maintenance task of replacing the battery, or alternatively leaving the dead battery alone and foregoing the benefits of the use of the pressure monitoring system.
Mechanical devices often generate kinetic energy that is lost and never utilized. For example, vibrations imparted onto a vehicle or object during transport, rotational motion present in a rotating wheel of a vehicle, vibrations induced in a rotating shaft of a device, and water flowing through an irrigation system all represent kinetic energy that may be wasted. Capturing and utilizing this potentially wasted kinetic energy may provide a power source for devices associated with the object. Further, since the devices associated with the object may be driven without the use of conventional batteries, maintenance time and expense of replacing the batteries may be eliminated.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the invention.